Name: Maria Amakali
Occupation: Director of Water Resources Management
Country: Namibia
Country of Work: Namibia and SADC
What would you say are the main challenges in your work as a woman?
I started working as hydrologist in the Department of Water Affairs in the early nineties. I had studied in the US and was ready to come and work in a newly independent Namibia. My responsibilities included planning and execution of research and investigations regarding sustainable development of water resources; and providing advice on the effective utilization, protection and conservation of such resources. At a time I found a lot of males, in the department. Except for the two women scientist in Hydrology Division, most women were doing mostly secretarial or office administrative work. I remember one day standing outside, waiting for my ride home and this man came to me asking whose secretary I was. In an independent Namibia, I was quite shocked that the old stereotype mentality that women can only be secretaries still exists. Those days there were not many women or black hydrologists, but I was still offended.
GWP West Africa, Eau Vive (a French NGO), IRC, the municipality of Dori in Burkina Faso and other partners celebrated the World Water Day in Dori (northern part of Burkina) by paying a tribute to GWP WA's former Chair Honorable Hama Arba Diallo who passed away on 31 October 2014. A series of activities were done starting with a panel discussion on the topic « Leadership for the access to water and sanitation, the role and place of local officials : Example of Hama Arba Diallo ».
Two missions of the secretariat were undertaken in Niger and Burkina to follow up on the recommendations of the audit report for 2014 and to see how ta carry out projects both wth the Dori and Tera municipalitie in Burkina and Niger.
The finance and Mekrou project managers went in Niamey on 12 and 16 April 2015 to work with the Niger CWP and host institution Eau Vive on the recommendations contained in the 2014 audit report on the implementation of the Mekrou project in Niger.
GWP-Med, along with partner organisation Lions' Club, is coordinating a national campaign in Tunisian primary schools for awareness raising with regards to water scarcity and the importance of water saving, during the month of February. The campaign is called ÔVI (eau=vie / water=life) and is taking place within the framework of the activity "La Jeunesse Francophone pour l'eau" [Francophone Youth for Water], jointly held by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the Office Franco-Québécois pour la Jeunesse (OFQJ), as well as the BeWater Project and the work it does on raising the Tunisian youth's voice on water resources management.
The series of themed water discussion under the “Water Salon” has been designed and prepared since October of last year. The first activity was held on May 11, 2015 in Beijing. Water Salon is organized by GWP China and its three regional partners, including the World Resources Institute (WRI) China, the WWF China and the IUCN China.
The World Water Council and the Japan Water Forum invite grass-roots organizations from developing countries to submit their candidatures for the 4th edition of the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize.
In preparation for a Youth Engagement Strategy, GWP consulted one of its Partner organisations: the Water Youth Network (WYN). The Strategy was launched in Stockholm on 25 August 2015. Some WYN voices were captured in a video connected to this event.
GWP and four of its partner institutions are organising a joint training on International Water Law (IWL) in Africa. The training will take place in Kampala, Uganda, 5-12 June 2016. It is open for up to 40 participants, and funding is available for 30 African-based participants.
A team of GWP-WA and CWP Burkina PNE had on June 11, 2015 a visit to assess the level of implementation of work on the site of the WACDEP demonstration project in Burkina Faso. This project involves the drip irrigation techniques for the efficient management of agricultural water for the benefit of vulnerable populations in the municipality of Loumbila in the center of the country.
Since the last visit in April 2015 there has been plowing work, the installation of some drip irrigation and water pumping equipment with solar energy, among others.
The States of the world will make two fundamental decisions in 2015:
- In September, they will set their strategic priorities for the next 15 years through the post 2015 Agenda;
- In December, they will finalize in Paris their climate roadmap during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21).